Ranking the Rich

These 12 Dallas billionaires land on Forbes' list of richest Americans

Houston, Bruno Mars Art After Dark Super Bowl Party, Jan 2017, Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban's net worth is estimated at $3.3 billion.

Photo by F. Carter Smith

Nearly 10 percent of the 400 richest Americans live in Texas, with most of the state’s uber-billionaires making their home in Dallas.

Dallas lays claim to 12 billionaires on Forbes' 2017 ranking of the 400 richest Americans, while Houston has 11, Fort Worth has six, Austin has four, and Temple has one. No one from San Antonio shows up on the list.

Walmart heiress Alice Walton of Fort Worth is the richest Texan with an estimated net worth of $38.2 billion. She ranks as the 13th richest person in the U.S.

At No. 2 among the richest Texans is Austin tech titan Michael Dell, whose net worth is estimated at $23.2 billion. Forbes puts him at No. 19 among the richest Americans.

The third richest Texan, according to Forbes, is Andrew Beal. The Dallas banker and real estate mogul is worth an estimated $10.9 billion. Beal is the country’s 45th richest person.

Coming in at No. 4 is Houston energy titan Richard Kinder, whose net worth is pegged at $6.7 billion. He’s the 74th richest American.

Holding down the No. 5 spot is Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, with a net worth estimated at $6.7 billion. Overall, he sits at No. 95 on the list of the richest Americans.

“America’s richest are richer than ever. The minimum net worth to make the Forbes list of 400 wealthiest Americans is now a record $2 billion,” say Luisa Kroll and Kerry Dolan, assistant managing editors of wealth at Forbes Media.

Two San Antonians — Rod Lewis and Red McCombs — failed to make this year’s list because their net worth falls below $2 billion. Meanwhile, another San Antonian, Charles Butt, doesn’t appear on the list because Forbes combines his net worth with the rest of the Butt family. The family fortune is estimated at $10.7 billion.

Here's a list of the 29 other richest of the rich in Texas, including their estimated net worth and main source of wealth.

Dannine Avara, No. 97 (tie), Houston, $5.5 billion, pipelines.
Scott Duncan, No. 97 (tie), Houston, $5.5 billion, pipelines.
Milane Frantz, No. 97 (tie), Houston, $5.5 billion, pipelines.
Randa Williams, No. 97 (tie), Houston, $5.5 billion, pipelines.
Robert Rowling, No. 108, Dallas, $5.2 billion, investments.
Robert Bass, No. 122 (tie), Fort Worth, $4.9 billion, oil and investments.
Ray Lee Hunt, No. 122 (tie), Dallas, $4.9 billion, oil and real estate.
Trevor Rees-Jones, No. 132, Dallas, $4.8 billion, oil and gas.
Kelcy Warren, No. 161, Dallas, $4.2 billion, pipelines.
Ross Perot Sr., No. 167, Dallas, $4.1 billion, computer services and real estate.
Robert McNair, No. 186, Houston, $3.8 billion, energy.
Dan Friedkin, No. 200, Houston, $3.7 billion, Toyota dealerships.
Jeffery Hildebrand, No. 206, Houston, $3.6 billion, oil.
Tilman Fertitta, No. 212, Houston, $3.5 billion, restaurants and casinos.
Sid Bass, No. 219, Fort Worth, $3.4 billion, oil and investments.
John Arnold, No. 226 (tie), Houston, $3.3 billion, hedge funds.
Mark Cuban, No. 226 (tie), Dallas, $3.3 billion, online media.
Robert Smith, Austin, No. 226 (tie), $3.3 billion, private equity.
John Paul DeJoria, No. 248, Austin, $3.1 billion, hair care products and tequila.
Gerald Ford, No. 278, Dallas, $2.9 billion, banking.
Ray Davis, No. 288, Dallas, $2.8 billion, pipelines.
Lee Bass, No. 315 (tie), Fort Worth, $2.6 billion, oil and investments.
David Bonderman, No. 315 (tie), Fort Worth, $2.6 billion, private equity.
Edward Bass, No. 324 (tie), Fort Worth, $2.5 billion, oil and investments.
Bert “Tito” Beveridge, No. 324 (tie), Austin, $2.5 billion, vodka.
George Bishop, No. 324 (tie), The Woodlands (Houston), $2.5 billion, oil.
W. Herbert Hunt, No. 374 (tie), Dallas, $2.1 billion, oil.
Drayton McLane Jr., No. 374 (tie), Temple, $2.1 billion, Walmart and logistics.
Ross Perot Jr., 374 (tie), Dallas, $2.1 billion.

lists rankings

Jobs report

Texas ranks among 10 best states to find a job, says new report

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

You have a better chance of landing a job in Texas than in most other states.

If you’re hunting for a job in Texas amid a tough employment market, you stand a better chance of landing it here than you might in other states.

A new ranking by personal finance website WalletHub of the best states for jobs puts Texas at No. 7. The Lone Star State lands at No. 2 in the economic environment category and No. 18 in the job market category.

Massachusetts tops the list, and West Virginia appears at the bottom.

To determine the most attractive states for employment, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 34 key indicators of economic health and job market strength. Ranking factors included employment growth, median annual income, and average commute time.

“Living in one of the best states for jobs can provide stable conditions for the long term, helping you ride out the fluctuations that the economy will experience in the future,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo says.

In September, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas led the U.S. in job creation with the addition of 195,600 jobs over the past 12 months.

While Abbott proclaimed Texas is “America’s jobs leader,” the state’s level of job creation has recently slowed. In June, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas noted that the state’s year-to-date job growth rate had dipped to 1.8 percent, and that even slower job growth was expected in the second half of this year.

The August unemployment rate in Texas stood at 4.1 percent, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Throughout 2025, the monthly rate in Texas has been either four percent or 4.1 percent.

By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate in August was 4.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2025, the monthly rate for the U.S. has ranged from 4 percent to 4.3 percent.

Here’s a rundown of the August unemployment rates in Texas’ four biggest metro areas:

Austin — 3.9 percent
Dallas-Fort Worth — 4.4 percent
San Antonio — 4.4 percent
Houston — 5 percent

Unemployment rates have remained steady this year despite layoffs and hiring freezes driven by economic uncertainty. However, the number of U.S. workers who’ve been without a job for at least 27 weeks has risen by 385,000 this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in August. That month, long-term unemployed workers accounted for about one-fourth of all unemployed workers.

An August survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed a record-low 44.9 percent of Americans were confident about finding a job if they lost their current one.

This story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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